Dear Editor,
It is very unfortunate that heads of government ignore Court Orders as this sets the tone for a breakdown of law and order. David Granger as head of state and government by ignoring the no confidence motion and the Order by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George giving validity to the December 21 parliamentary 33-32 motion is blatant. His excuse that the decision is being appealed is unacceptable since he was advised that an appeal does not act as a stay. Moreso in this case the Chief Justice denied a request made by the Attorney General for a stay. The Bar Council of the Bar Association has issued a statement stating that the clock is ticking and that the country is entering into a constitutional crisis.
It is clear to my mind that the government wants to stall the election as long as possible because it is likely that appeals from the Guyana Court of Appeal and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) will not be concluded before the March 21 deadline. House-to-house registration to ensure that there is a clean list is merely an excuse since only a few months ago there were local government elections.
Disrespect of Court Orders is not new in Guyana. In December 1997 the late Janet Jagan tossed away an Order Nisi made by the then Chief Justice Desiree Bernard prohibiting the then Chancellor Cecil Kennard from swearing her (Jagan) as President. Mrs Jagan had already been sworn in privately. Mrs. Jagan’s action was severely criticized at the time since legal experts say that Justice Bernard’s ruling was still binding even it was made after the fact. In September 2013 I interviewed the former Chancellor as she was about to demit office as a judge of the CCJ, and asked her about the “tossing of the Court Order” incident which was considered as contemptuous and disrespectful and injured the image and authority of the judiciary. However, the former Chancellor who is highly respected in the Caribbean, having held many firsts said she held the view that Mrs. Jagan was not disrespectful to her or the Court for that “unfortunate action” and that they had a good relationship until her demise.
Maybe I should turn to another aspect of the judiciary when under the Burnham regime, the PNC flag was flown at the Court of Appeal which at the time was the highest court in the country since appeals to the UK Privy Council were abolished and the CCJ was not yet inaugurated. Guyana at that time was under a socialist regime and the government was an arm of the PNC party.
However two decades later a former Chancellor (ag) Carl Singh, told a University of Guyana- sponsored lecture that with the passage of time, the Judiciary has reasserted its independence and its neutrality and that the rule of law is maintained. Singh retired as acting Chancellor and could not be confirmed because the then leader of the Opposition did not agree as required under the amended Constitution which now calls for “agreement” rather than “consultation”. In fact since Justice Bernard demitted office as Chancellor in April 2005 to join the CCJ there was no “confirmed” Chancellor. A very unfortunate situation.
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
